Judge denies new trial for Sweetwater attorney John Young

SAN ANGELO — A Tom Green County district judge has denied a motion for a new trial in the forged-will case of Sweetwater attorney John Young.

Judge Brock Jones denied the request Thursday after hearing testimony and arguments from attorneys for several days during a hearing last week.

In November, a Tom Green County jury sentenced Young, 57, to 11 years in prison for conspiring with former San Angelo bail bondsman Ray Zapata, 66, to forge a will and claim the estimated $8 million estate of John Edward Sullivan, 77, who died June 4, 2014.

Young's attorneys, Frank Sellers and Daniel W. Hurley, filed new trial papers on Dec. 8, saying new evidence had surfaced since the 18-day trial had concluded.

The new evidence in question was a witness, Katie Hartman, who testified she saw her ex-husband, Christianson Hartman, forge Sullivan's will.

Christianson Hartman is the attorney Young hired to take care of the will, which was filed for probate in Tom Green County Clerk's Office less than 24 hours after Zapata found Sullivan's body.

In addition, the Commission for Lawyer Discipline filed a compulsory discipline petition Dec. 7 before the Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals seeking to disbar Young because of his four felony convictions on counts of forgery, theft and money laundering.